From the past, various methods for detecting micro-organisms existing within urine and the like are proposed as methods for inspecting infectious disease of urine and the like. These methods are as follows, for example.
(1) a method for recognizing colonies on an agar medium with the naked eye, after deposition of urine and the like on the agar medium, PA1 (2) a method for coloring micro-organisms in urine and the like, and for measuring a number of colored micro-organisms using a microscope, PA1 (3) a method for measuring the turbidity of a medium following multiplication of micro-organisms using a light intensity measurement, after deposition of urine and the like on the medium, PA1 (4) a method for using C.sup.14 labelled compound as a nutritive source for micro-organisms in urine and the like, PA1 (5) a method for radiating infrared to urine and the like, and for measuring the absorption quantity of infrared based upon transmitted infrared intensity, and PA1 (6) a method for detecting bioluminescence.
When the method (1) is employed, since a condition for generating colonies on the agar medium should continuously be maintained, disadvantages arise in that the operation required for maintaining the condition is remarkably complicated, and in that it takes a remarkably long time period for the colonies to be recognized by the naked eye.
When the method (2) is employed, it is not possible to distinguish between living micro-organisms and non-living micro-organisms. Consequently, disadvantages arise in that the detection accuracy is lowered, and in that the operation becomes extremely complicated because of the number of colored micro-organisms within a visual field of the microscope.
When the method (3) is employed, since detection with high accuracy cannot be performed until the micro-organisms multiply to some degree, a disadvantage arises in that a minimum time period of about several hours to one day is necessary.
When the method (4) is employed, a disadvantage arises in that a radioactive material utilizing facility is necessary so as to extremely limit the places in which it is possible to perform the inspection.
When the method (5) is employed, since detection time varies greatly depending upon the species of micro-organism, a disadvantage arises in that the detection result cannot be obtained with accuracy when the detection time is not determined accurately.
When the method (6) is employed, a disadvantage arises in that the operation becomes extremely complicated such that it is necessary to provide the appropriate set up for providing sufficient bioluminescence, and it is necessary to eliminate the influence of disturbance light, and the like.
Further, methods are proposed for measuring the number of living micro-organisms in a liquid provided for measurement by measuring the dissolved oxygen quantity which is caused by the respiration of micro-organisms (refer to laid-open publications of Tokukaihei 3-198767 and Tokukaisho 56-140898). But, both of these methods only make it possible to measure the number of micro-organisms, and the identification of a species of micro-organism and the, judgement of drug sensitivity and the like are impossible to be performed by both of these methods. Therefore, while both methods can be applied for judging the degree of infection of micro-organisms, identification of the species of the micro-organism and judgement of the drug sensitivity are performed by other methods. Both methods are quite insufficient for infectious disease inspection method for clinical examinations which strongly demand simpleness of operation and rapidity. Furthermore, since it is an extremely rare occurrence (actually, it is a scarce occurrence) that only the tested micro-organism respirates in the liquid provided for measurement in the clinical examination, the measurement is also influenced by the respiration of other living bodies. Thus, a disadvantage arises in that the measurement accuracy is lowered by the respiration of these other organisms.